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Activists and journalists hold posters of journalist Abdulelah Haider Shaye during a protest to demand his release from prison in Sana'a on 11 April 2013

REUTERS/Mohamed al-Sayaghi

Just weeks after U.S. President Barack Obama was awarded the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize, an American cruise missile armed with cluster bombs struck an alleged al-Qaeda camp in Southern Yemen killing 35 women and children.

Yemeni journalist Abdulelah Haider Shaye was the first to expose U.S. responsibility for the attack. In January 2011, he was arrested by Yemeni security forces, convicted of “terrorism-related charges” and sentenced to five years in prison.

As controversy regarding his imprisonment mounted in Yemen, Shaye was pardoned in February 2011 by Yemen's former president Ali Abdullah Saleh, but was denied release following the reported direct intervention of President Obama. He remains in prison to this day.

Freedom Foundation, a local Yemeni media watchdog, has launched an international advocacy campaign calling for Shaye's release. As part of its campaign, it has drawn up a petition to be sent to both President Obama and Yemeni President Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi through Avaaz, a global online campaigning network. It aims to collect a million signatures.

Shaye's continued imprisonment illustrates the poor state of press freedom in Yemen even after Saleh's ouster. In the past couple of weeks, media freedom organisations including Reporters Without Borders (RSF) and the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) have raised the alarm regarding the increasingly hostile climate of lawlessness and impunity endangering journalists in Yemen today.

Abdul-Raqeeb al-Hudayyani, editor-in-chief of the news website Aden Online, told CPJ that he received anonymous death threats after his website published an article on 5 March alleging corruption within the government-owned daily 14 October. The paper denied all accusations and said Aden Online had cited forged documents. More than a month later, a judge told al-Hudayyani the paper had filed a case against him for forging documents, the journalist said.

In another case, Mohammed Ayesh, editor-in-chief of the daily independent Al-Oula, told CPJ he has received several death threats in phone messages since 9 April. Originating from both domestic and foreign numbers, the messages threatened to kill him, cut off his hand or cut out his tongue.

On 10 April, three journalists working for the independent TV station Al-Suhail were attacked by armed individuals outside the station's headquarters in Sana'a. All three were hospitalised, according to RSF.

Freedom Foundation also reported that a journalist with the daily newspaper Al-Thawra, Mohammed Qa'ed al-Azizi, was threatened by gunmen on 16 April in Sana'a. Al-Thawra reported that the assailants demanded the journalist stop writing about corruption. Freedom Foundation told CPJ that the incident may be related to the paper's recent investigation of illegal prisons run by tribal leaders in Sana'a.

On 19 April, the International Press Institute (IPI) reported on an attempted bombing of the headquarters of Yemen Shabab TV and al-Masdar newspaper. Fortunately, the attack was thwarted – but it would have caused massive damage if it was successful.

"Yemeni journalists face an array of threats from a wide range of sources," said Sherif Mansour, CPJ's Middle East and North Africa Coordinator, insisting that authorities must apprehend those who attack and threaten journalists in order to discourage impunity and protect press freedom.

Through this report the Gulf Centre for Human Rights (GCHR) aims to highlight cases of ongoing killings, attacks and threats against journalists and other media workers in four countries, Bahrain, Iraq, Syria and Yemen, and makes recommendations to enhance their protection using international mechanisms including the United Nations system.

Freedom Forum monitored FoE during the elections as it concerns citizens' freedom of expression through the ballot box. Therefore, any action creating an unfavourable atmosphere for the elections is also a violation of freedom of expression.

A recent HKJA survey indicates a slight rise in the Hong Kong Press Freedom Index after two consecutive years of decline. Journalists on the ground believe that the situation has worsened in 2016, compared to the year before. HKJA chairperson Sham Yee-lan explained that the slight increase in the Press Freedom Index was likely to be related to the emergence of online media, which has led to some diversity in the industry.

This report presents the findings of a three-month study focused on mapping, observing and analysing online harassment of journalists in Hungary. The study aimed to identify the types of harassment journalists are subject to, which journalists are typically harassed, who the harassers are, and how journalists cope with harassment.

Combining both violent and nonviolent methods, the Communist Party's policies are designed to curb the rapid growth of religious communities and eliminate certain beliefs and practices, while also harnessing aspects of religion that could serve the regime's political and economic interests.

Many journalists increasingly practice self-censorship, fearing retribution from security forces, military intelligence, and militant groups. Media outlets in 2016 remained under pressure to avoid reporting on or criticising human rights violations in counterterrorism operations. The Taliban and other armed groups threatened media outlets and targeted journalists and activists for their work.

Chinese authorities' enforced disappearance of critics from Hong Kong and other countries in 2016 garnered headlines globally. Beijing's decision to interfere in a politically charged court case in Hong Kong in November undermined judicial independence and the territory's autonomy. In the ethnic minority regions of Xinjiang and Tibet, Beijing continued its highly repressive rule, curtailing political activity and many peaceful expressions of ethnic and religious identity.

Bangladesh witnessed a spate of violent attacks against secular bloggers, academics, gay rights activists, foreigners, and members of religious minorities in 2016. Several laws were proposed during the year to increase restrictions on freedom of expression.

Freedom Forum observed a relatively peaceful atmosphere for the media this year (2016) with a significant decline in the number of press freedom violations. FF recorded only 25 incidents of press freedom violations during 2016 versus 83 in 2015.

Pakistan is among the countries that do not properly investigate and prosecute crimes against media professionals. Because of the near absolute level of impunity, most of the people who attack, injure or even murder media journalists in Pakistan remain free.

2016 is a highly significant year for Cambodian democracy. Looking back, 2016 marks 25 years since the conclusion of the Paris Peace Agreements (the “Paris Agreements”), which brought an end to 20 years of conflict in the Kingdom of Cambodia (“Cambodia”) and laid the framework for a political settlement based on human rights and liberal democracy; looking forward, 2016 marks the unofficial start of the lead‐up to the local and national elections in 2017 and 2018, respectively, as political actors across the spectrum begin to position themselves.

In the 27 cases of journalists murdered for their work in India since CPJ began keeping records in 1992, there have been no convictions. More than half of those killed reported regularly on corruption. The cases of Jagendra Singh, Umesh Rajput, and Akshay Singh, who died between 2011 and 2015, show how small-town journalists face greater risk in their reporting than those from larger outlets, and how India's culture of impunity is leaving the country's press vulnerable to threats and attacks

Latin America is, by far, the most dangerous region of the world for environmental human rights defenders (EHRDs). The lack of effective guarantees of human rights protection in Latin American States has created this dire situation.

Violence against journalists in Europe increased in the second quarter of 2016, reports submitted to Index on Censorship’s Mapping Media Freedom platform show, as a government crackdown in Turkey intensified and protests turned violent in countries from France to Finland.

With the environment now recognized as a major challenge for humankind, Reporters Without Borders believes that particular attention should be paid to the journalists who take greats risk to investigate sensitive, environment-related subjects. The report highlights a steady deterioration in the situation for environmental reporters, who are increasingly exposed to many kinds of pressure, threats and violence.

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